More Extremism from Obama's DHS

The political profiling scandal at President Obama's Department of Homeland Security just keeps on growing. On Tuesday, May 5, the Washington Timesreported on a newly leaked DHS document on "extremism" which reinforces concerns that the DHS is treading a dangerous path of attempting to stigmatize and criminalize, in the minds of members of the law enforcement community, those who dissent from or peacefully oppose government policies and the trend toward omnipotent government.

The new offending document, entitled "Domestic Extremism Lexicon," (click here to see a PDF version of the document) comes from the same bureaucracy within the DHS leviathan which produced another report on "Rightwing Extremism" that created a furor and forced DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to apologize to veterans groups last month. The "Domestic Extremism Lexicon," dated "26 March 2009," says it was "Prepared by the Strategic Analysis Group and the Extremism and Radicalization Branch" of the Homeland Environment Threat Analysis Division. These offices, in turn, answer to the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

The Lexicon carries the warning it "is not to be released to the public, the media, or other personnel who do not have a valid need-to-know." According to the DHS document, the Lexicon "is one in a series of reference aids designed to provide operational and intelligence advice and assistance to other elements of DHS, as well as state, local, and regional fusions centers. DHS/I&A intends this background information to assist federal, state, local, and tribal homeland security and law enforcement officials in conducting analytic activities. This product provides definitions for key terms and phrases that often appear in DHS analysis that addresses the nature and scope of the threat that domestic, non-Islamic extremism poses to the United States."

And therein lies a major problem: the "definitions" provided in the Lexicon are politically slanted to poison the law enforcement community against millions of Americans who might be called (and who might identify themselves as) political, social, and religious "conservatives." Law-abiding citizens who oppose abortion, illegal immigration, gun control, homosexuality, expanded federal government powers, and increased government spending and taxes are repeatedly associated with neo-Nazis, skinheads, and other violent and racist "hate groups."

The Lexicon, for instance, defines "rightwing extremism" as:

A movement of rightwing groups or individuals who can be broadly divided into those who are primarily hate-oriented, and those who are mainly antigovernment and reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority. This term also may refer to rightwing extremist movements that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration. (also known as far right, extreme right)

Typical of the liberal-left tendency, however, this "definition" (and its similar statements) aims more at demonizing legitimate political opposition on the "right" than offering real intelligence on terrorism and other genuine threats to national security. Consider for example, the Lexicon definition of "anti-immigration extremism":

A movement of groups or individuals who are vehemently opposed to illegal immigration, particularly along the U.S. southwest border with Mexico, and who have been known to advocate or engage in criminal activity and plot acts of violence and terrorism to advance their extremist goals. They are highly critical of the U.S. Government's response to illegal immigration and oppose government programs that are designed to extend "rights" to illegal aliens, such as issuing driver's licenses or national identification cards and providing in-state tuition, medical benefits, or public education.

Tens of millions of Americans — Republican, Democrat, and Independent — are "highly critical of the U.S. Government's response to illegal immigration and oppose government programs that are designed to extend 'rights' to illegal aliens." The DHS provides no evidence to show that any significant number of them "engage in criminal activity and plot acts of violence and terrorism." The number would be so miniscule compared to the larger category of people opposed to illegal immigration that targeting the larger category would prove useless as an index of predictive criminal behavior. Ditto for the supposed "terrorist" threat from "anti-abortion extremists," which is virtually nil, and the completely unfair and vicious odium such inferences place on tens of millions of law-abiding pro-life citizens.

The "Domestic Extremism Lexicon" and the DHS "Rightwing Extremism" report are very likely just the tip of a very large iceberg of propaganda aimed at both vilifying citizens who support constitutional restraints upon government and traditional Christian morality, and prejudicing law enforcement personnel against them. The appearance of similar reports from federal-state "fusion centers," (see here and here) indicates the poison has already gotten into the law enforcement blood stream. It must be purged out and the sources of the toxin removed. Seen in the context of the current campaign to pass new draconian "hate crime" legislation, the DHS reports take on an even more chilling and sinister significance. They add to a pattern of activity and conduct indicating that certain so-called "liberals" in our federal government, despite their endless prattling about freedom of speech, press, assembly, etc., intend to use the police powers of government to squelch those freedoms.